Saudi Arabia is considering expanding its crude oil pipeline capacity to the west coast of the Red Sea, with plans to add approximately 2 million barrels of pipeline capacity per day to bypass the Strait of Hormuz. The east-west pipeline can currently transport 7 million barrels of crude oil per day to Yanbu Port, of which about 2 million barrels are supplied to West Coast refineries and about 5 million barrels are used for export. The expansion plan includes upgrading existing infrastructure, building new pipelines, or adding refined oil pipelines, with an estimated scale of 1 to 2 million barrels per day. The project will take several years, cost billions of dollars, and adjust the crude oil pricing mechanism.
